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The differences between community relations specialists and public relations can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a community relations specialist and a public relations. Additionally, a community relations specialist has an average salary of $49,344, which is higher than the $48,383 average annual salary of a public relations.
The top three skills for a community relations specialist include press releases, event planning and community events. The most important skills for a public relations are press releases, web content, and facebook.
| Community Relations Specialist | Public Relations | |
| Yearly salary | $49,344 | $48,383 |
| Hourly rate | $23.72 | $23.26 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 28,509 | 22,721 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A community relations specialist is responsible for handling the organization's community engagements by facilitating fundraising events, volunteering acts, and charity programs and partnerships. Community relations specialists also write content for public and media promotions to promote brand awareness and the company's mission across the community. They should also be updated with the current events and situations to identify events and strategies that will help stabilize the society's condition. Since this type of job requires interacting with community people, a community relations specialist must have excellent communication skills to respond to their inquiries and concerns.
Public relations is a strategic way of developing and maintaining a client's or company's public image through media coverage, appearances, and press releases by designing and developing events to raise funds or to spread awareness to the public regarding products, brands, or individuals. It involves research and evaluation of programs including financial, marketing, employee, or government relations using topics of public interest and news items. Due to our present technological innovations, public relations now use webinars, blogs, and downloadable resources under one convenient website.
Community relations specialists and public relations have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Community Relations Specialist | Public Relations | |
| Average salary | $49,344 | $48,383 |
| Salary range | Between $34,000 And $70,000 | Between $32,000 And $72,000 |
| Highest paying City | Alexandria, VA | Richmond, VA |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | Virginia |
| Best paying company | City National Bank | Edelman Financial Engines |
| Best paying industry | Government | Professional |
There are a few differences between a community relations specialist and a public relations in terms of educational background:
| Community Relations Specialist | Public Relations | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 75% |
| Most common major | Business | Communication |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between community relations specialists' and public relations' demographics:
| Community Relations Specialist | Public Relations | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 25.3% Female, 74.7% | Male, 36.1% Female, 63.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.1% Asian, 5.3% White, 66.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 5.3% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |